“Seniors Strike Back” is an operation that enlisted senior volunteers from throughout Arizona to save their junk mail during April. Beginning Monday, May 7, in honor of Older Americans Month, the Attorney General’s Office will collect and sort the mail and then take legal actions against companies or people who violate Arizona’s consumer protection laws.

Goddard will be on hand at the first collection and sorting event beginning at 9 a.m. on May 7 at the Sunnyslope Village Alliance offices at 755 E. Hatcher Road. Seniors who have been saving mail can bring it there. Goddard will meet with volunteers who will be sorting the junk mail into various categories. The Attorney General’s Consumer Protection and Advocacy Section will be looking for fraudulent offers of lottery winnings, charity solicitations, magazine subscriptions and other attempts to mislead or defraud Arizona residents.

“The Seniors Strike Back program is a proactive effort to reduce the number of scams being sent by mail,” Goddard said. “The national Do Not Call list, coupled with email spam blockers, make it more difficult for con artists to separate people from their money. Mail is quickly becoming a preferred tool criminals are using to scam Arizona seniors.”

The Attorney General’s Office will be holding sorting events in 12 other Arizona communities where volunteers will sort through the junk mail collected and send it to the Attorney General’s investigators.

The following is a list of the sorting events happening throughout Arizona. These events are open to the media:

Date

Time

City

Venue

Address

May 7

9 a.m. – noon

Phoenix

Sunnyslope Village Alliance AG Goddard will attend

755 E. Hatcher Rd.

May 7

1 p.m. – 4 p.m.

Phoenix

Phoenix Urban League AG Goddard will attend

1402 S. 7th Ave.

May 9

8:30 a.m. – noon

Mesa

Mesa Senior Center DowntownAG Goddard will attend

247 N. MacDonald

May 14

9 a.m. - noon

Prescott

Prescott Valley Civic CenterAG Goddard will attend

7501 E. Civic Circle

May 15

9 a.m. - noon

Sun City West

PORA AG Goddard will attend

13815 Camino del Sol

May 16

9 a.m. - noon

South Tucson

Sam Lena Library AG Goddard will attend

1607 S. Sixth Ave.

May 21

1 p.m. – 3 p.m.

Green Valley

Green Valley Mall

101 S. La Canada Dr.

May 22

9 a.m. - noon

Tucson

Pima Council on Aging

8467 E. Broadway

May 24

11 a.m. – 1 p.m.

Sierra Vista

Sierra Vista Public Library

2600 E. Tacoma St.

May 30

1 p.m. – 4 p.m.

Oro Valley

AARP Tucson Info Center

6700 N. Oracle Rd.

May 22

TBA

Yuma

TBA

TBA

TBA

TBA

Flagstaff

TBA

TBA

TBA

TBA

Florence

TBA

TBA

If you believe you have been a victim of fraud, please contact the Attorney General’s Office in Phoenix at 602.542.5763; in Tucson at 520.628.6504; or outside the Phoenix and Tucson metro areas at 1.800.352.8431. To file a complaint in person, the Attorney General’s Office has 26 satellite offices throughout Arizona with volunteers available to help. Locations and hours are posted on the Attorney General’s Web site at www.azag.gov. An online complaint form is also posted on the Attorney General’s Web site.